"I
think you should go and see Maggie," Carter said. He and Abby
were sitting in her apartment, staring blankly at the TV screen. A
sitcom was on, but neither of them was really watching it.
As
Abby listened to the canned laughter, she thought, I wonder how many
of them are really happy. I wonder how many of them are just laughing
to hide their pain. Maybe some of them are having a good time now,
but they know their lives at home are miserable, and this is just a
short reprieve from the suffering.
She
realized that maybe she was overanalyzing this
sitcom.
"Abby?"
Abby
jumped. "What?" she said. She hadn't realized that he was
talking to her.
"I
said I think you should go see Maggie."
Abby
laughed humorlessly. "I think I have enough problems now without
having to deal with Maggie."
"Abby,
she's your mother. I know you guys don't really get along, but maybe
you could help each other through this."
Abby
thought for a moment. Could anything good come out of talking to
Maggie? She thought about it, and realized it was worth a try. After
all, he was Maggie's son too. Maybe they could help each other. "I
guess maybe I could call her," Abby said finally.
"I
already tried calling her. She's not answering."
"So
what do you think, we should just go over there?"
Carter
nodded. "Yeah. You need to see her. I think it would be good for
both of you."
Abby
thought about it. "I guess that might be a good idea." She
paused, then said, "You don't have to come, John. I
could-"
"I'm
coming," Carter said abruptly. "I don't want you to have to
go through this alone."
"Thanks,"
she said. "Even though you might not have a job when we get back
to Chicago, thanks."
Carter
smiled. "I think Kerry will cut us a little slack this time,"
he said. "So when do you want to leave?"
"As
soon as possible."
"I'll
call the
airline."
Abby's
teeth started chattering as soon as they left the airplane. "God,
it's freezing out here," she said, pulling her hat down over her
ears.
Carter
shrugged. "After all these years living in Chicago, I think I'm
immune to cold."
"Well,
I'm not. Give me Hawaii any day."
Carter
smiled. This was the first normal, casual conversation they had had
since she found out. It gave him hope that maybe, one day, things
could be normal again.
"Should
we try and call her again before we get there?"
Abby
nodded. "I'll call." She dialed her cell phone and let it
ring ten times before hanging up. "Nope, still not there. I hope
she didn't move or something."
They
got in their rental car and drove to Maggie's house. Carter pointed
to the driveway. "There's her car," he said.
Abby
looked mad. "So she's home but she didn't answer?" Then she
was worried. "I hope she's okay."
They
walked up to the house and knocked on the door. "Maggie?"
Abby called, peering through the window. "Maggie? Are you in
there?"
Carter
walked around to the back of the house. "Hello? Maggie? You in
there?"
"You
see anything?" Abby asked, meeting him on the side of the
house.
Now it
was Carter's turn to look worried. "No. I think we should go
talk to the neighbors, see if anyone has a key."
They
knocked on the doors of two nearby houses, but no one answered.
"Let's go look for a key. I remember that Maggie used to always
keep one on the porch somewhere."
They
walked back over to the house and started searching the porch. After
a few seconds, Carter said, "I found one!" He held up a
gleaming key.
"Where
was it?" Abby asked.
"Taped
to the bottom of this chair."
Abby
laughed. "Trust Maggie to put it someplace weird like that,"
she said.
Carter
smiled. "Ready to go in?" he asked. She nodded. He put the
key in the door, and they walked into Maggie's house.
"It's
freezing in here," Abby observed. Her breath puffed in a frosty
cloud in front of her to affirm her statement.
Carter
cast a worried glance on the thermostat. It went down to fifty, and
the needle was laying flat on its side. Carter figured it was about
40 degrees. "Maggie?" he called, walking into the house.
Why was it so cold?
Abby
wrapped her coat around her. "Something's wrong here. Her car's
outside, but the heat hasn't been on in a while. What's going on?"
she said in a trembling voice.
"Maybe
she's off her medication," he said, though he prayed she wasn't.
He had brought Abby here so Maggie could comfort HER, not vice versa.
But it seemed that Maggie being off her medication was the best case
scenario.
He held
Abby's hand as they walked into Maggie's room. He was sure that,
whatever was waiting for them in there, it wasn't going to make Abby
feel any better.
